Jim Taylor was the last in a line of top HUMMER execs, and piloted the brand through it’s last two years in existance with General Motors. He understood what the brand was about, and had engaged directly with enthusiasts – including HummerGuy.net. According to a new interview with Edmunds.com, Taylor says that the Hybrid HUMMER wasn’t just in development – it was ready to launch.

Taylor volunteered to ‘captain the Titanic’ (as he put it) after then GM CEO Rick Wagoner announced that HUMMER was going to be sold, and indicated they were just going to “toss it overboard” by selling it to someone. Taylor says that the closing documents were ready, and that “GM was cool. The buyer was cool. The Chinese government wasn’t cool.”

Taylor indicated that an extended range electric H3 had already been engineered and was ready to be announced after the deal was complete – and the new, independent HUMMER brand was launched.

“We had spent all kinds of private, silent money to get it ready for the brand launch,” says Taylor. “When [the deal] closed, our debut at the Shanghai auto show was going to be an electric H3. For us to offer a hybrid Hummer, I think, was going to change the brand image overnight.”

Now, Taylor is with AMP Electric Vehicles, a company that electrifies vehicles like the Chevrolet Equinox for utility fleets.

Most of the interview is about his new gig, but feel free to drop by Edmunds to check it out.

Hey if they still want to experiment, i got an H3 they can convert to electric. BTW thanks Hummer for the service card, I used mine for the first time this week. The local Chev dealership honored it. i am planning on keeping it for a long time. Hopefully it will show up on a Mecum auto auction in 15 years.

The Chinese government is really just a big pain in the butt. That electric H3 would have been great and an h3t version would have been even better. Thanks Chinese government for blocking the sale and destroying HUMMER.